Rocking the vote: US politicians and their musical side projects

After it was revealed that Donald Trumps attorney Jay Sekulow plays in a rock band, we got thinking of some other politicos whove been known to jam out

Theres a long lineage of politicians with musical sensibilities, a tradition that reached its zenith (or nadir, depending how you look at it) when Bill Clinton so famously got out his sax in 1992 on The Arsenio Hall Show. There was no surprise, then, when Spin revealed that president Donald Trumps attorney Jay Sekulowis also in a band. With a Facebook following of over 100,000 people, and largely unremarkable covers of everything from the Beatles to the Doobie Brothers, the discovery of the Jay Sekulow Band prompted a deep dive into the history of politicos in bands.

John Kerry The Electras

Not to be confused with the Minnesotan garage band of the same name, John Kerrys the Electras were formed in 1960 at St Pauls school in Concord, New Hampshire. In 2004, their lone 1961 recording funded by Kerry and six high-school bandmates for $1,000 was rediscovered, fetching way more than that during bassist Kerrys presidential campaign. The record, which after a half-century was made available on iTunes under the name John Kerry and the Electras, includes covers of Summertime Blues and Three Blind Mice. The bands pianist, Jack Radcliffe, has said he and the former secretary of state were probably the best musicians in the band.

John Hall Orleans

The former representative for New Yorks 19th congressional district has undoubtedly had the most musical success of anyone on this list, having written Billboard-charting singles such as Dance With Me and Still the One with his band Orleans, formed in 1972 in Woodstock, New York. Hall, who left the group over creative differences in 1977, can be found all over YouTube channeling the contemporaneous soft-rock of Fleetwood Mac and Jackson Browne.

The Midnight Special.

Jon Huntsman Wizard

And now, our first GOP crooner: former Utah governor and US ambassador to China Jon Huntsman, who dropped out of high school in the 70s after being recruited to join the band Wizard. Huntsman, who in his Salt Lake City youth played the keyboard and sported a mullet, performed REO Speedwagon and Led Zeppelin covers with the band, although, true to his Mormon roots, he refrained from doing any drugs with them. I never saw him inhale, said bass player Eric Malmquist.

Robert Byrd Mountain Fiddler

Since former US senator Robert Byrd founded a chapter of the KKK in West Virginia in the 1940s, Id prefer not to grant his musical output any credibility. But in the spirit of covering all our bases, Ill note that the former Senate majority whip released an album called Mountain Fiddler in 1978, replete with folksy numbers such as Rye Whiskey and Cripple Creek that reflect on his coal country upbringing.

John Ashcroft, Larry Craig, James Jeffords and Trent Lott the Singing Senators

Joe Scarborough Morning Joe Music

MSNBC host and politician Joe Scarborough has for years been playing sets at Upper West Side speakeasies, specifically Prohibition, the roaring 20s-themed bar where, alongside a nine-piece backing band, dubbed Scarborough. The former congressman began performing shortly after the September 11 attacks. In fact, he is releasing his first EP a collection of long-dormant bluegrass tracks called Mystified on 23 June. Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski and fiance has been spotted frequently at gigs, singing along to crowd-pleasing Scarborough covers of Prince and the Eagles.